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How Bad did It Get?

So I would post this in the Marauder Era section but the boards are being stupid and say I'm not allowed to ....if a mod wants to move it for me you are MORE THAN WELCOME!!

Here is my question...

So how bad did Snape vs. James get? Was it your "average" bullying stuff, you know, hexing each other every chance you get and stuff, or was it worse than that? Did James leave love letters on girls's desks from Snape? Did Snape hide from James, or did he fight back? Did the other Slytherins get angry at James or ever try to stop him?

I don't think the James/Snape thing really got bad until it was clear that Lily was a factor in their hatred of each other. But as we see through Snape's memory, the worst it supposedly got was hanging him upside down (that much we can gather from the fact that it was Snape's WORST memory). I think the stuff you mentioned him doing would be plausible during their 4th/5th year - I think mostly harmless stuff would've happened previously, because I'm sure the Marauders had far more interesting places to go and things to do than torment Severus Snape.

I think Snape fought back, though (much to Lily's dismay, I'm sure). He never exactly seemed like the type that would run away and hide. We know from OoTP that he had his little gang of Slytherins he was hanging around, but I'm not sure they really had a big part of fighting back. Snape knew that hurting James would hurt Lily. Much like Malfoy's gang in the Trio era, I think that they just provided back-up to fire words around.

I don't think the James/Snape thing really got bad until it was clear that Lily was a factor in their hatred of each other. But as we see through Snape's memory, the worst it supposedly got was hanging him upside down (that much we can gather from the fact that it was Snape's WORST memory). I think the stuff you mentioned him doing would be plausible during their 4th/5th year - I think mostly harmless stuff would've happened previously, because I'm sure the Marauders had far more interesting places to go and things to do than torment Severus Snape.

I think Snape fought back, though (much to Lily's dismay, I'm sure). He never exactly seemed like the type that would run away and hide. We know from OoTP that he had his little gang of Slytherins he was hanging around, but I'm not sure they really had a big part of fighting back. Snape knew that hurting James would hurt Lily. Much like Malfoy's gang in the Trio era, I think that they just provided back-up to fire words around.

I thought the reason that was Snape's worst memory was that he called Lily a Mudblood, thus signalling the beginning of the end/total end of their friendship. The readiness with which James did that kind of implied that was a common sort of incident, and Lupin had said that Levicorpus was "in vogue" in that time, so it's quite possible it had been used before then in similar encounters.

I think that Snape would have fought back, but not got much help from the Slytherins. I got the impression that they were more peripheral friends until his friendship with Lily ended, at which point he created the persona of the Half-Blood Prince to really get in with them, and that wouldn't have been until his 6th year.

But that's just my opinion... And Padfoot, I'll reply to your PM later today

Student * Wannabe Author * IB Survivor * Ravenclaw

Also known as Ithinkrabis2people - nothing like a crackpot theory that doesn't work out

(that much we can gather from the fact that it was Snape's WORST memory)

It wasn't his worst memory because of the bullying but because he called Lily a Mudblood and thus their friendship ended.

This incident is particularly bad because James and Sirius started it and it was 'for fun'. But I sincerely doubt that it was all one-sided. Dumbledore mentions that Snape and James hated each other ('much like yourself and Master Malfoy'), so it wasn't just James and Sirius picking on Snape for fun - there was real enmity there. Remus and Sirius also say that Snape never missed an opportunity to hex James (and probably Sirius). Whilst SWM is a bad incident (choking him, hoisting him up by the ankle, humiliation) we can see that Snape is fully capable of retaliating. The spell he hexes James with is probably Sectumsempra.

I'm pretty surethe other Slytherins would have taken every opportunity, as well, to take out a Gryffindor. They are soon-to-be or sons/daughters of Death Eaters. They will hate the Gryffs with a passion - particulalrly Sirius for being a 'traitor'.

I thought the reason that was Snape's worst memory was that he called Lily a Mudblood, thus signalling the beginning of the end/total end of their friendship. The readiness with which James did that kind of implied that was a common sort of incident, and Lupin had said that Levicorpus was "in vogue" in that time, so it's quite possible it had been used before then in similar encounters.

That's true too. I guess I saw the humiliation as part of it, but after re-reading the scene, I think you're right in that it's mostly over Lily. :] Still, I'll stand with my opinion that what happened between the two of them in that scene was probably some of the worst that came from James.